Letter from Illona Trogub

November 8, 2011

I was drawn to the Occupy Movement because I recognized a revolutionary moment. I’m 27 years old. I’ve been involved with activism in one form or another since I was 13. For the first time in my life, I feel like my sentiment resonates with the majority of people around the world. A huge awakening has occurred, brought on by corporations going one step too far. By stripping people of education, of property, of community, they’ve tipped the balance in our favor and it’s time we use our weight to make serious change in our world. The Occupy Movement has allowed people to feel like for the first time in their lives, they are being heard, especially when attending the General Assembly in their city. It’s empowering and radical. I believe that is what keeps hope alive.

I have personally been involved with food security and indigenous rights issues. Many others in the Occupy Movement have fought for recognition of these and many other issues their entire lives. Until now, their battle cries have fallen mostly on deaf ears. The Occupy Movement has finally made many more people receptive to these issues. But it’s important that we keep our focus on the rotten core of the issues – greed. It’s a challenge with so many passionate individuals still believing that their issues are of utmost importance. The Keystone XL pipeline, an environmental disaster waiting to happen, is serious and must be stopped. However, it won’t be directly stopped by the Occupy Movement. My hope is that it will be indirectly stopped by the Occupy Movement through bringing down those who wish to build it. We have worked long and hard to bring attention to genetically modified foods. I don’t think the Occupy Movement will convince Monsanto to stop creating genetically modified foods. I think the Occupy Movement will end any corporations’ attempts at patenting life. We, as a global revolutionary movement, have the ability to rewrite the rules and implement them through nonviolent means.

Our number one task is to educate. Most of the 99% are hurt and angry. However, they lack the information to understand why. Activists such as myself are working around the clock to share that knowledge. It’s our duty to help the rest of the 99%, and really that 1% as well, to comprehend why there are no good jobs left, why homes are being foreclosed on, why tap water is burning in West Virginia. With this knowledge, we can enter serious dialogue on how to administer solutions. That’s why I’ve started Project Occupy The Mind. It will be a database for materials and successful tactics for helping everyone understand how we’ve gotten to this place and where we can go from here. To get involved, email us at [email protected]

The General Assembly process creates an incredible opportunity to allow each and every voice to be heard. Once education has thoroughly saturated the 100%, General Assemblies will be key to establishing community charters, then state charters, then nationwide charters, then global charters. Those elected to represent us will have no choice but to accept them. Exercising the option to not accept will leave them without a job. My hope is that in the global charter, we end wage slavery, the war on nature, and recognize the need to live simply yet fully.

We are building a new world from the ground up, through satellites in the sky, and with light in our hearts. So please, arm yourselves with the knowledge needed to fight this war. It can continue being non-violent but only if we have the right tools. Begin with potlucks in your neighborhood and movie nights followed by discussion. Move to start General Assemblies in your neighborhood. Craft proposals, vote, share. Bring in those organizations in your neighborhood that have done good. Ask that everyone volunteer a few hours. We will build the kind of world we want to live in together.

A request for demands has come from the 1% and others too comfortable to be upset at the state of things in the world. Instead of listing demands that will only bandage a few problems and potentially cause others, we say, “Thanks, but no thanks, we’ll take it from here.”

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1 comment for “Letter from Illona Trogub”

Thank you Illona. Your message is uplifting and important. Especially important, I think, is the refusal to provide a list of demands. Others have pointed this out; the miscommunication here is not on the side of the Occupy movement, it is in the deafness of political and business leaders. Our task is to live these new relationships, including Occupy The Mind, clearly and openly so that they, and others, can join. Our task isn’t to translate new relationships back into old, asymmetrical (and often abusive) ones. No demands, except to pay attention and learn.